Cyber bullying Lawsuits in Georgia
Fight online harassment in Marietta and metro-Atlanta
Cyber Safety. Cyber Harassment. Cyber Bullying. These are new terms and concepts that are mainstream in the information age.
The Internet has opened all kinds of possibilities, and as long as it is used responsibly and safely by society, all is well and good. When it is not used properly, there are legal ramifications that can directly and severely impact children and adults.
This law firm will aggressively assist those who are injured or abused by those who try to make cyberspace an unsafe place. Unfortunately, there's a new bully in town -- the Cyber Bully.
"Cyber bullying," also known as electronic bullying or online social cruelty, is defined as bullying through email, through instant messaging, in a chat room, on a website or gaming site, or through digital messages or images sent to a cellular phone.
This is the definition of cyber bullying of Robin Kowalski, Ph.D., Susan P. Limber, Ph.D. and Patricia Walton Agatston, Ph.D., co-authors of a book published by Blackwell Published in November, 2007, titled Cyber Bullying: Bullying in the Digital Age.
Blackwell Publishing's website is now selling Cyber Bullying: Bullying in the Digital Age. It can also be ordered on Amazon, Borders and Waldenbooks.
Full disclosure time: The latter author is my wife, a clinical psychologist, who has teamed with two brilliant Clemson University professors to write this ground-breaking book.
Bullying prevention & Civil Justice in the Online World
For educators who want to responsibly educate their students on cyber bullying, Hazeldon Publishing has published a cyber bullying prevention curriculum for grades 6-12, written by Drs. Kowalski, Limber and Agatston. In February 2009, a curriculum for grades 3-5 was published. The curriculum provides a real-world program that teaches students how to protect themselves and their friends from cyber bullying. An example of a cyber bullying story was covered by Fox 5 Atlanta, and its anchor Russ Spencer, too.
There are interesting and innovative legal avenues to combat this form of bullying as well, as long as the law stays up with the technology. This firm is dedicated to Civil Justice in the Online World, and seeks creative legal solutions to end the online harassment and bullying of the innocent who look to the Internet to work and play.
What’s wrong with Georgia cyber bullying law?
Cyber law is a generic term that originally included law firms who were astute at information technology and Internet law. These firms helped corporations harness the vast power of the Internet in order to advance their technologies that could help company growth.
That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about assisting those who are on the receiving end of harms caused by the improper use of the Internet: cyber bullying; cyber slander or cyber defamation; and other forms of cyber harassment. These forms of intimidation can range in their severity levels, but we've seen in recent months that the consequences of the most insidious forms can be extreme.
And it is beyond argument today that bullying consequences in general can be extreme.
In the past, and certainly today, when parents call me to see whether there is any civil legal remedies for the extreme "traditional" bullying of their child, chances are that some of the following has occurred:
(1) The bullying persisted for a period far longer than the parents knew, or could have in their worst nightmares imagined; (2) Their child coped the best he or she could for an extended period of time before telling the parents; (3) Once the parents got wind of the problem, the bullying had escalated to a degree where the child no longer tried to keep the episodes to himself or herself; (4) The child has enormous feelings of humiliation, embarrassment, hurt, self-doubt, and shame; and (5) The parents have equal doses of anger and guilt. This is not an exhaustive list.
Sometimes, the parents have attempted to address the situation with the various school systems, and often the results are unsatisfying, if not unnerving.
It is unfortunate, but I believe it is true: There is an overall shared expectation in our communities, our schools, and among our parents and legislative leaders that bullying is a rite of passage; that bullying is not widespread, but isolated; that bullying only consists of a physical pummeling by that Super-Sized kid down the street.
It's also the legal expectation, as seen by how our Georgia courts treat it, and how even in the most egregious cases, courts will not hold the school systems responsible under Georgia law. I'll discuss one component of Georgia law now.
Bullying in the public education settings falls under the umbrella of "student safety" as it relates to the roles of our schools, and this umbrella covers other intentional acts of aggression such as batteries or so-called "sex" crimes. Under Georgia law, public school systems enjoy a near bullet-proof sovereign immunity shield from liability on matters of student safety.
How Georgia Schools Avoid Legal Liability
The reason for this can quickly be seen through an analysis of Georgia's sovereign immunity rules. First, in the public school setting, the courts look to the complained-of conduct giving rise to an allegation of negligence, and categorize it: is it a "ministerial" role of the school/agent, or is it a "discretionary" function? If it's a "ministerial" role, then the school system can be held liable for its employee performing this ministerial role in a negligent manner. A "ministerial" function has been defined as one that is simple, absolute, and definite, requiring merely the execution of a specific duty—a "punch-list," if you will.
If the complained of act, however, is a "discretionary function," then the school system is immune from liability, even if its employee performs the act in a negligent manner. A "discretionary function" occurs when an individual exercises his or her judgment in carrying out certain responsibilities. Here's a rule of thumb at present in Georgia: Student safety is always, always, and always going to be seen as a discretionary function.
In public schools across this state, there are reported court cases which describe students who have been harmed in every way imaginable by other students, and the parents of these injured students, and the students themselves, have not been able to recover from the school system despite, in some cases, amazing acts of negligence.
I'm not taking an editorial position on the state of things on this topic;
I'm just telling you how it is. If you’re interested, I offer my proposed solutions to cyber-bullying.
My office can also assist you when you need immediate help with cyber bullying.
